Explosion conversion with value proposition: creation and testing

Value proposition determines whether users will explore your product or quickly close the site.
This is the first thing that a user should see at all entry points, landing pages. Not for aesthetics or SEO, but to increase your CLV (profit from one client over the entire period of cooperation).

In this article we will analyze the report of the well-known marketer Pip Lai "How to create an effective value proposition". Consider cool and unsuccessful examples, as well as give a breakthrough technique of testing the value proposition to increase conversion.

What is value proposition?
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This is why a potential customer should buy from you. Brief "program" of business:

- How does your product solve customer problems?
- What are its advantages?
- How are you different from competitors?

Answers should be clear to each user from the target audience. Quickly and specifically.

What is NOT a value proposition?

"A marketing-focused marketing automation system, a solution for increasing sales efficiency."

Imagine that you are explaining this to your friend: will he understand what benefits he will receive from the system mentioned? It is doubtful. And such expressions on every second site.

Value proposition works in the client’s language. As if you are joining the thoughts in his head. Guessing is useless, you need to know the exact wording of the target audience. Help - polls, dialogue in social networks.

Secondly, it is not a slogan or a catch phrase, such as:

"L'Oréal - you deserve it."

and not positioning:

"Antipyretic # 1 - soothes pain, heals faster"

Positioning is part, but not the same as value proposition.

What does value proposition include?

This is a block from the title, subtitle, bullet or paragraph of text with visualization (product or developer photo, infographics).

1) Header. Attracts attention, shows benefits in one short sentence.

2) Subtitle and text paragraph - explain in more detail what and for whom you offer.

3) Bullets or a bulleted list of 3 items: key features and benefits of the product.

4) Visual - enhances the text "message".

Rate the value proposition on the following issues:

- What product or service does your company sell?
- What is the ultimate benefit of using it?
- What makes your offer unique?

How to create a compelling value proposition?

What is it, for whom and why is it useful? If you have a clear and understandable answer to all 3 questions, you are on the right track. Clarity first.

If your value proposition makes the audience think: “What are we talking about, why do I need this?”, Then it is necessary to correct it. When users need to read a bunch of information, most of them simply won’t wrestle and leave.

Yes, a sufficient amount of information is needed to make a decision, while without a convincing proposal at the very beginning it will be wasted.

A study by MarketingExperiments says that 67% of companies have problems with a clear expression of value proposition.

Characteristics of effective value proposition

- Clarity
- Specific results that the customer will receive from using the product
- Competitive advantages
- Lack of unfounded allegations, especially in superlatives (“Best”, “Affordable Price”, “Lowest Price”)
- Time to read and understand - 5 seconds.

There is usually a difference between the value proposition of the company and the product. Ideally, you need to combine them.

The key role is played by differences from competitors. Most people look for 4-5 product options or suppliers before making a decision. USP should report real benefits.
There is no point in creativity (“Ball bearings in our bikes are blue”). Uniqueness does not work in the whole world, but only in the mind of the consumer.

"Engines" value proposition

- Free shipping
- Fast delivery, the day after the order
- Free bonus when buying
- Free installation
- Money back guarantee
- Lower price.

Think about what you can add to the product - not burdensome for your business and attractive to the buyer.

Example of an online furniture store Down & Feather:



Check out the "Free Shipping" signs. This is a unique "chip", which catches the eye.

Cool examples of value proposition

1) CampaignMonitor



What well:

- Clearly the message in the title, what it is and for whom: "Email-service for designers and their clients";
- Text paragraph under the heading with benefits: “Send beautiful newsletters, track results and manage your subscriber base. Make a profit from customers at prices that you set yourself ";
- Key benefits on the first screen, with icons: “Create and send beautiful emails; manage lists and subscribers; powerful analytics; profits on reselling ";
- Relevant image;
- Attractive price offer (“Belimitny tariff for $ 15 per month”);
- Social proof - logos of leading clients;
- Amplifier - "100% resale rights."

2) Geekdom



What well:

- A clear message for whom and for what: “A new kind of shared workspace for entrepreneurs, developers and creators. It helps to build and develop business and other cool things ";
- Relevant image;
- List of benefits, 14 bullets.

3) Evernote



What well:

- A great slogan: "He remembers everything." In this case, you can add a subtitle that will strengthen it.
- Key benefits with themed icons and convenient location: easily and quickly perceived.
- Call to action - "Get Evernote, it's free."

An interesting example of the Russian equivalent of "Megaplan":



Unusual, lively wording. The only disadvantage is that the specific functionality of the service in another place on the page "Services":



Bad examples of value proposition

1) Cloudflare



Cool service, while needing to adjust the value proposition.

What is wrong:

- Relying on video is too risky. Not all users will watch it right now, and if there is no longer any explanation for who and why the service is needed, this gives a high failure rate. A significant part of users simply will not “bother”, and will leave the page.
- An incomprehensible signature: “Give us 5 minutes and we will speed up your website.” What does "accelerate" mean? The service really improves the performance of web resources, but this is not clear.

2) Continuum Financial (financial and insurance services)



What is wrong:

- Value proposition as such does not exist at all. In the text block, there is a story about the company's history and the transfer of services with too general phrases: "A leading financial company provides comprehensive individual services for people, families, and business." It painfully reminds the Russian stamp “Dynamically developing company offers a wide range of services”.
- Text in small print. On the main page there should be at least 14 size
- Useless headline "Welcome to our site." Have you ever seen a business where customers are not welcome? Instead, there should be an offer, a unique selling proposition.
- Stationery language, with a lot of incomprehensible expressions.
- Relevant, but stock photography. And it just "kills")

How to test value proposition?

1) Testing ads, banners

In this case, ads are tested with different value proposition. The higher the CTR, the more effective the option. Which, of course, does not mean conversion to sales.

An example of the American company WeightWatchers:



and Optimizely service:



2) A / B testing landing pages

Compare the two options (or more with “tonne” of traffic). Ideally, you should measure the conversion to sales, at least the conversion to bids. Rather labor-intensive process: for each version of the tested element - a separate page.

For example, you want to compare 4 headers - create 4 pages,
wait at least 3 weeks for statistical certainty. Tests are conducted sequentially:

A vs B = winner B
C vs D = winner C
B vs C = Winner C

Total takes 6 weeks before you determine the option with the highest conversion. Multitests with several versions at the same time work only on high-load projects.

And if, in addition to headings, it is necessary to test images, subtitles, bullets? Imagine how many pages you need and how long it takes to search for the perfect value proposition.

Commentary by the head of Yagla.ru Alexander Alimov

A / B testing, for all its value, remains a problem in the process of optimizing conversion. Consecutive mono-tests are carried out to determine exactly which element influenced the conversion.

For example, you are comparing two variants of a headline With that, in the value proposition 4 elements. In the Yagla service , we set up multivariate testing of substitutes for requests from contextual advertising. Including with low traffic.

Here we are simultaneously testing the title, signature and call-to-action in the application form:



In the editor, you see the status of each substitution: with what conversion it worked, better or worse than the original.



An important point: testing takes place on the same page, with automatic display of results. This saves the marketer from the mass of manual work - creating dozens of pages with different elements, and saves time on analytics.